Spirit

He forced himself to take a long breath, letting it out slowly, forcing his hands to relax while he walked.

“Hey, Jackass. Hungry?” A hand hit the edge of the tray and flipped it up.

Hunter jerked back. The chicken and salad missed him.

The soup didn’t. Hot liquid hit him square in the chest.

That spring snapped. Hunter whirled and threw a fist.

Gabriel Merrick hit him back.

Hunter stepped into the punch, using his opponent’s momentum to trap his arm and send a knee into his gut.

Then they were being dragged apart. Too soon. Hunter tasted blood on his lip—but he let himself be dragged.

That assistant football coach got between them, and he was talking, though Hunter wasn’t really listening. Something about fighting and the guidance office and . . . Hunter didn’t give a crap.

His eyes were on Kate, standing there among the gathered crowd, next to Nick Merrick, Gabriel’s twin.

Nick was talking, his tone full of an almost resigned exasperation. “So now you’ve met my other brother, Gabriel . . .”

Hunter wasn’t listening to him, either.

He was staring at Kate. Or more precisely, her hand.

And the way it was resting on Nick Merrick’s arm.

Hunter slouched in the chair in the guidance office and stared at the corner of Vickers’s desk. His shirt was wet and tacky from the soup, and somehow it had turned ice cold on the walk down here. He didn’t want to give Gabriel the satisfaction of hearing him complain about it.

Kate and Nick. How had that happened? Wasn’t Nick dating Becca’s friend, Quinn?

The air felt tight and scratchy against his skin, like a wool sweater that didn’t fit right.

Ms. Vickers was tapping her pen against her desk blotter. “Twice in one day, Hunter.”

He wanted to ask if she could just give him detention or whatever so he could get the hell out of this room.

But he bit back the words. Becca’s father’s parting comment kept ricocheting around his brain, adding to the headache. You made your bed, kid. Now you lie in it.

It sounded so much like something his father would have said.

Ms. Vickers shifted in her chair. The fluorescent light in the ceiling was buzzing with a tiny flicker. “And Gabriel Merrick. I’d hoped your recent brush with the law would keep you out of my office for a while.”

“I’m happy to leave.”

She didn’t crack a smile. “You know we don’t take physical altercations lightly here. Who wants to tell me what happened?”

Hunter didn’t lift his eyes from the corner of her desk, waiting for Gabriel to sell him out.

But Gabriel didn’t say anything, either.

Ms. Vickers sighed. “All right, Hunter, what happened with Calla Dean? Coach Taylor says you had a run-in in the lunch line.”

Hunter felt his hands form fists. “I didn’t do anything.”

“She says—”

“She’s lying. I didn’t touch her.”

Ms. Vickers pursed her lips. “I asked you to stay away from her entirely. If I don’t think you can do that, you’re going to force me to suspend you.”

This was ridiculous. “I’m trying!”

“You didn’t make it through lunch. I’m not sure that qualifies as trying very hard.”

Hunter almost came out of his chair. His hands were ready to snap the plastic armrests clean off. “I didn’t—”

“Hey.” Gabriel’s voice was sharp.

Hunter rounded on him, ready to finish what he’d started in the cafeteria. “What?”

Gabriel didn’t flinch from his look. “Dial it back a notch.” He glanced up.

And then Hunter realized that the overhead light was buzzing more frantically, making loud clicks within the tube. The air in the room had to have dropped ten degrees.

He’d always been able to sense the elements, and control was a newer talent, but he’d never affected anything to this extent.

Hunter closed his eyes and took a slow breath. In through his nose, out through his mouth. Then another. His hands unclenched, and he dropped back into the chair.

“Very zen,” said Gabriel. “Should I light a candle?”

Hunter’s eyes snapped open. “Fuck you.”

“Gentlemen,” said Vickers.

Damn. Everyone was managing to burrow under his skin today.

“I’m sorry,” Hunter bit out. “I’ll stay away from Calla.”

“Three strikes and you’re out, Hunter.” She shivered and pulled a cardigan off the back of her chair, then forced her arms into the sleeves. “If we have this conversation again, you’ll be looking at a three-day suspension. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

Her eyes shifted to Gabriel. “The same goes for you, Mr. Merrick.”

“Roger.” He mock-saluted her.

“Can the two of you make it to next period without fighting? Or should someone stay with me?”

Hunter shot out of his chair. “I’m good.”

Gabriel followed him into the hall. Hunter ignored him, though he wanted to slam him into the bank of lockers. The bell hadn’t rung yet, and the halls were still empty.

“Nice shirt,” said Gabriel.

“Go away.”

“What, you’re not still tracking me so you can report back to your keeper?”

Hunter ignored him and kept walking.

Gabriel kept after him. “Don’t like being called a traitor?”

“I’m not a traitor.”

“Did you turn on your dad, too? Is that what you feel so guilty ab—”

Hunter spun. Gabriel caught his wrist before he could throw a punch.

“Don’t be an idiot,” he snapped. “Do you want to get suspended?”

Hunter jerked free. “I want you to leave me alone.”

“Oh, it’s okay for you to follow me around—”

“I wasn’t following you around!” God, Hunter would pay good money for a handful of ibuprofen. “And you know what? Why don’t you cut the martyr act?”

Gabriel looked incredulous. “Me. The martyr act.”

“Yeah. You.” Hunter glared at him. “Like I screwed you over. You didn’t even give me a chance to explain—”

“All right.” Gabriel stopped walking. “Explain.”

Hunter took a breath—and had nothing to say.

“Yeah, whatever.” Gabriel moved away.

“Can you blame him?” called Hunter.

Gabriel hesitated, but didn’t turn. “Blame who?”

“Bill. Becca’s dad. Can you blame him for thinking you’d cause trouble? I didn’t drag you to that first fire.”

Gabriel laughed low, under his breath, but not like it was really funny. He turned and walked back to Hunter. “No, jackass. I blame you. Where’d you learn how to be a friend, anyway?”

Hunter stared at him. “What does that mean?”

“It means you need to pick a f**king side.”

Then the bell rang and people flooded the hallway, separating them until Hunter lost Gabriel in the sea of students.

CHAPTER 6

At the end of the school day, Kate burst into the afternoon sunlight with the other students.

Then she got a glimpse of the roadway in front of the school and sighed.

Silver was waiting for her, leaning up against his truck, one hand hooked into a pocket. The sun caught the lighter strands in his hair and turned them gold, and the black T-shirt he wore didn’t leave a whole lot to the imagination.

She wasn’t the only one appreciating it, if the number of giggling girls passing close to the truck were any indication. But Silver was only looking at Kate.

She sighed and pulled her sunglasses from her bag, slipping them onto her face along with a bored expression, before looking both ways to cross the street.

For a moment, she wished she’d asked Nick Merrick for a ride home, just to get under Silver’s skin, but at lunch she’d met Quinn.

“Nick’s girlfriend,” the other girl had emphasized, her voice full of steel daggers.

Kate had picked up one of Nick’s fries—he’d offered—and smiled back sweetly. “Sounds like paradise.”

Then Nick had smiled that wicked way and said, “See? I knew you’d have no trouble making friends.”

Kate crossed the street with a bored expression on her face. “Haven’t you ever seen Sixteen Candles?”

That threw him. Silver tilted his head to the side. “I’m sorry?”

“It’s a classic. All you need is the red sports car. Come on, Jake, I’m hungry.”

But as she moved to walk past him, he caught her around the waist and drew her into his body. She gasped, and he caught her breath, pressing his lips against hers. Despite the shock, he was one hell of a good kisser. She made a small sound, her body softening against his automatically, enjoying the feel of his hands sliding under her leather jacket to warm the skin at her waist.

Her power sparked with his, pulling heat from the sunlight and kicking the air into little whirlwinds around them.

Silver pulled back, lifting a hand to push her sunglasses up onto her forehead.

She stared up at him, feeling a bit dazed, though she didn’t want him to know that. “Missed me, did you?” she said, mocking his accent.

“Not at all.” He kissed the end of her nose. “Just setting a story so we have a reason to be seen together. Get in the car.”

Then he smacked her on the ass and stepped back.

Kate’s hand formed a fist, but before she could get past her shock and move, Silver glanced over. “Hit me and I’ll hit you back.”

He was smiling, but the glint of danger in his eyes said he wasn’t kidding. She couldn’t let him see that he’d gotten to her. She pulled her sunglasses back into place and drew a slim tube of lip gloss from her bag, deliberately moving slowly though her fingers were shaky with adrenaline. “Is that a promise or a threat?”

“Both. Did you mention you were hungry?”

Silver took her to the Pizza Hut near the school, a place with sticky tables, a sticky floor, and sticky toddlers screaming over the ancient jukebox in the corner.

It probably had sticky buttons. She didn’t want to find out.

Kate raised her eyebrows at him when the waitress brought thick plastic cups of soda. “Really. I say I’m hungry and this is where you take me.”

He ignored her. “What did you learn today?”

She took a sip of her soda and cast a glance around the room. Harried mothers, tired servers, bored busboys. Silver looked completely out of place in the red vinyl booth. But then, she probably did, too.

She shrugged and swirled the straw in her glass. “They’re boys. One of them got in a fight right in front of me and was stopped by a teacher.” She rolled her eyes. “We could probably go back and take them out right now.”

“If we take out one, we have to take out all. We can’t risk collateral damage.”

“Say ‘collateral damage’ again. That sounded sexy.”

He didn’t smile. “Are you not taking this seriously, Kathryn?”

His voice was low and dangerous, but she was still smarting from his treatment in the parking lot. It made her long for the easy banter of the text messages she’d exchanged with that boy with the piercings and tattoos. Hunter. How quickly he’d defended her this morning, standing up to those idiots in the school office.

She wondered what kind of kisser he was.

Then she squashed the thought. She had a purpose here. She couldn’t let Silver catch her being distracted.

And that boy, Hunter, had shoved a girl in the cafeteria. He’d picked a fight with Gabriel Merrick. He’d seemed so collected, so controlled.

Then she’d seen it all go to hell in less than a minute.